A drive mechanism for moving parts of seating or reclining furniture, in particular, for slatted frames of couches or beds, comprises a housing that has a upper wall facing the adjustable part, a lower wall facing away from the adjustable part, two approximately parallel side walls, and two preferably approximately parallel end wall. The upper wall close to the end wall and the end wall have notches that each receive a shaft that is rotatably attached to the furniture and that has operating arms for moving parts of the furniture. The housing preferably has locking parts that capture the shaft in the desired installation position on the housing. Two servomotors each having an output shaft, one transmission, one thrust spindle, a spindle nut and a thrust piece connected thereto are mounted in the housing preferably between the notches. The thrust piece acts on a control arm projecting from the shaft toward the lower wall of the housing. The height of the housing between the upper wall and the lower wall is slightly larger than the diameter of the shaft plus the length of the control arm.
A drive mechanism of this type is disclosed, for example, in DE 3,842,078. Such a drive mechanism is quite bulky so that it requires a large shipping volume when transported from the manufacturer of the drive mechanisms to the user of the drive mechanisms, that is, the manufacturers of seating and reclining furniture.
In a first embodiment that is illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4 of this German patent, the servomotors project outward from the side walls of the housing, with the result that the shipping volume for these parts is very large due to the motors projecting beyond the side walls of the housing. In a second embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5 of this patent, the motors are mounted inside wall the housing and extend parallel to the respective connected at their center longitudinal axis that is determined by the output shaft, as is also true in the embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4. Even in the case of the embodiment of FIG. 5, what results here is a large volume since in overall terms the housing must be designed large enough to enable the laterally projecting motors to be enclosed by the housing. This design too thus always results in a very large shipping volume.
The functional configuration and arrangement of the individual elements are very evident and well known from this prior art. In regard to the prior art, additional reference is made to DE 41 36 373. In FIG. 1 of this patent document, the shaft is rotatably attached to the corresponding furniture and has a control arm on which the thrust piece of the thrust spindle acts when the servomotor is operated and the thrust spindle is rotated in the spindle nut that is fixed in the housing. In this arrangement as well, the servomotors are provided so as to project laterally away from the housing, as is evident from the arrangement of the drive shaft. Thus here the locking parts clearly close the notch in which the shaft is journaled. The element designated as a closer engages guide grooves of the housing and forms an effective locking means for the shaft on the housing. In particular, what is also evident from FIG. 1 of this document is how the corresponding control arm is affixed to the shaft and which positions the lever can occupy depending on the position of the thrust piece connected to the thrust spindle.